Press Release  AG Healey Announces Fentanyl Trafficking Arrests Stemming from Joint Massachusetts, New Hampshire Initiative to Combat Trafficking

Boston — Months after the Massachusetts Attorney General’s Office won a new $3 million federal grant to support its Fentanyl Strike Force, two Lawrence men were arrested and arraigned this week after a joint federal, state and local investigation revealed their involvement in an alleged cross-state fentanyl trafficking operation in Massachusetts and New Hampshire.

Alberto Pieluissis, 40, was arrested by Massachusetts State Police in Lawrence on February 26 after authorities seized approximately 200 grams of fentanyl during a search of his home. He was arraigned February 27 in Lawrence District Court on charges of Trafficking Over 10 Grams of Fentanyl (one count) and Conspiracy to Violate the Drug Laws (one count). Judge Mark Sullivan set bail at $150,000 cash and a probable cause hearing has been scheduled for April 3.

Genero Valentin, 59, was arrested by Rockingham County Sheriff’s Office in New Hampshire on February 26. He was charged in New Hampshire with multiple counts of fentanyl distribution and held without bail and will be arraigned in Massachusetts on several counts of fentanyl trafficking at a later date.

Authorities seized an additional 90 grams of fentanyl as a result of controlled buys executed during the course of the investigation.

This investigation is ongoing. These charges are allegations and defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty.   

The AG’s Office has been working closely with its federal, state and local partners to combat illegal drug trafficking. AG Healey formed a Fentanyl Strike Force to more aggressively combat the heroin and prescription drug abuse crisis in New England. In October, the Office announced the Fentanyl Strike Force had been awarded a nearly $3 million grant to expand its efforts to combat the opioid epidemic and disrupt drug and fentanyl trafficking throughout Massachusetts and New Hampshire. The AG’s Office won this grant from the U.S. Department of Justice’s Community Oriented Policing Services Anti-Heroin Task Force grant program and was one of just 17 proposals funded nationally and the only awarded in New England.

This case is being prosecuted by Assistant Attorney General Gina Masotta of the AG’s Enterprise, Major and Cyber Crimes Division and investigated by Massachusetts State Police assigned to the AG’s Office and the Commonwealth Interstate Narcotics Reduction Enforcement Team (CINRET), the Drug Enforcement Administration, and the Rockingham County Sherriff’s Office Drug Task Force.

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